A lot of unexpected things happened in 2016, but perhaps none was more surprising than O.J. Simpson’s unexpected resurgence in popularity.
Okay, the American people electing a Dorito-colored reality star to the most important job in the world and the universe punishing us by taking every cool pop star over the age of 50 was the most surprising, but the O.J. thing was pretty wild, too.
Not only did Ross Geller shout “Juice” at us repeatedly through … episodes of FX’s The People vs. O.J. Simpson, an eight-hour documentary about the NFL-great-turned-inmate was nominated for an Academy Award.
In fact, the public spent much of the past year so enamored with the O.J. Simpson story that they may have forgotten about O.J. the man, still locked away in Nevada’s Lovelock Correctional Center.
Simpson was convicted on armed robbery and kidnapping charges in 2008, but he’s eligible for parole in October.
Though he’s a long way from being able to afford the kind of legal dream team that got him acquitted in his 1994 double murder trial, insiders say the right wheels will likely be greased, and Simpson will almost certainly be released by the end of this year.
Of course, now that the TV-viewing public has proven it’s still fixated on O.J.’s precipitous fall from grace, execs are salivating at the idea of exploiting America’s most famous convict.
The most obvious method of cashing in on Simpson’s infamy would be reality television, but that could be a tricky proposition,
TMZ is reporting today that after contacting several “reality TV production companies, TV agents and platforms where such a show could run” it’s clear that there is an interest in an O.J. reality show – but there are doubts about who would be willing to assume the risk.
People are interested in O.J., but that’s in large part because they’re disgusted by him.
After all this is a guy, who just yesterday earned the sympathy of Casey Anthony.
The consensus seems to be that the public would want such a show, but no network or advertisers would be willing to be associated with it, which leaves one unlikely avenue – pay-per-view.
With PPV, one exec says, “people could pay without being judged” and the no network would have to put its reputation on the line.
Of course, the fact remains that for a large segment of the population the only O.J. event that they’d deem worthy of their PPV dollars would be a three-hour bludgeoning at the hands of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman’s families.
In all likelihood, the show would focus on O.J.’s attempt to rebuild his life after nearly a decade behind bars, but we say why not get creative with it?
How about a live paternity test to determine if O.J. is really Khloe Kardashian’s father?
Now THAT’S the sort of etertainment that could top 2016 in terms of ridiculousness.
